The pastor of St. Susanna Church in Dedham said Monday night that an anti-immigration-enforcement display in a Nativity scene will stay up, even though Boston Archbishop Richard Henning has asked him to take it down.

Father Stephen Josoma said he wants a meeting with the archbishop “before reaching any final decisions” about the display.

The announcement came three days after the Archdiocese of Boston released a public statement Friday saying the display — which includes a sign saying “ICE Was Here” and another sign saying that missing figures of Jesus, Mary, and Joseph are inside the church and thus safe from U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement  — should be removed because it sends an inappropriately political message in a religious display.

Father Josoma, the longtime pastor of St. Susanna’s, read a written statement to reporters outside the church, after a scheduled parish council meeting.

The text of the statement follows:

“We believe our position and practice to be faithful to the Gospel and Catholic teaching, especially as recently put forth by the Catholic bishops of the United States, including our own Archbishop Henning, as well as Pope Leo. The Vatican itself displays different-themed nativities each year, highlighting social issues to contemporary life.

Some of these have also been controversial, like the one focused on the plight of refugees in 2016, all moving beyond static traditional figures, and designed to evoke emotion and dialogue. Our hope was to similarly evoke dialogue around an issue that is at the heart of contemporary life. That some do not agree with our message does not render our display sacrilegious, or is the cause of any scandal to the faithful.

Any divisiveness is a reflection of our polarized society, much of which originates with the changing, unjust policies and laws of the current United States administration, not emanating from a Nativity display outside of a church in Dedham.

It’s a prophetic reflection that challenges the faithful to find new paths to bring the Good News announced at that first Christmas to all of God’s people.

We are waiting for an opportunity of dialogue and clarity with Bishop Henning before reaching any final decisions.”

The text comes from a transcript created by New Boston Post based on a video of the press conference published by MassLive.com.

On Friday, December 5, a spokesman for the Archbishop Henning said the display should come down.

“The people of God have the right to expect that, when they come to church, they will encounter genuine opportunities for prayer and Catholic worship — not divisive political messaging. The Church’s norms prohibit the use of sacred objects for any purpose other than the devotion of God’s people. This includes images of the Christ Child in the manger, which are to be used solely to foster faith and devotion,” said Terrence Donilon, a spokesman for the Archdiocese of Boston, by email.

“Regarding the recent incident, St. Susanna Parish neither requested nor received permission from the Archdiocese to depart from this canonical norm or to place a politically divisive display outside the church. The display should be removed, and the manger restored to its proper sacred purpose,” Donilon said Friday.

Father Josoma addressed the statement in impromptu remarks near the end of Mass on Sunday morning.

He said:

“It’s been a very unusual week to say the least. We did get a letter from the archbishop asking us to take the Nativity set down, or at least the signs down. Our parish council and Pax Christi group will be meeting after Mass today to discuss that, to pray about that, to discern our response to that.

For all of those of you who came today, from the bottom of my heart, thank you. Saw a lot of faces that just, blast from the past, and you see the love there, and I really appreciate that. We really appreciate that. Wherever you’re at in life, keep that love going, and continue to pray for us as we navigate our way through this.

It kind of came as a surprise to us.

The table of the Lord should reflect what happens out in the world. They’re not two separate places. Lots of horrible things happen when they are separated. What we do here should be how we live out in the world. The Mass has ended, go in peace.’ We take the Eucharist with us. We take this love of God with us. If you notice, the lector who carries the Lectionary into church does not carry it out. We take the Word of God with us as we go. We assent to bring that into the world. The two tables are connected. So I ask your prayers as we navigate this.”

Father Josoma said during Mass that he sees the anti-ICE Nativity display at St. Susanna’s as in line with a special message on immigration enforcement that the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops issued November 12.

In the statement, the bishops expressed concern about what they called “a climate of fear and anxiety around questions of profiling and immigration enforcement.” They also expressed concerns about what they called “the vilification of immigrants” and the treatment of illegal immigrants at detention facilities, and said they “lament that some immigrants in the United States have arbitrarily lost their legal status.”

“The bishops’ message on their own are totally in line with what we have done over the past week, this past Advent season. We’re a bit surprised at that,” Father Josoma said, referring to the archdiocese’s reaction.

“Anyway, just keep us in your prayers as we go forward,” Father Josoma said, to 17 seconds of applause.

During the press conference Monday night, Father Josoma said a meeting with Archbishop Henning had not been scheduled.